Why FreeBSD not popular on hardware vendors

[michael]

Chad Perrin wrote:
> On Thu, Dec 11, 2008 at 11:45:20PM -0600, Tyson Boellstorff wrote:
>   
>> On Thursday 11 December 2008 19:58:14 Chad Perrin wrote:
>>     
>>> On Thu, Dec 11, 2008 at 05:00:11PM -0800, prad wrote:
>>>       
>>>> On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:28:13 -0700
>>>>
>>>> i don't think that's really what is happening, chad.
>>>> i think there is just some disagreement as to what is considered an
>>>> improvement.
>>>>         
>>> So . . . are you saying that increased support for 3D accelerated
>>> graphics is not an "improvement", and should therefore not be considered
>>> a worthy goal?
>>>
>>>       
>> Not so much considered 'unworthy' as it is a balancing of limited resources. 
>> If I was a hardware programmer, had unlimited time, beer, and cheese dip, I'd 
>> add everything just because I could.
>>     
>
> I don't think anyone said anything about taking development effort away
> from, for instance, the network virtualization project to put into
> achieving better 3D accelerated graphics -- just that it would be nice if
> we had better support for 3D accelerated graphics.  One need not entirely
> write off the notion of putting more effort into one thing to assure that
> we don't cease putting effort into another.  One of the great things
> about open source development is that, often, more development talent can
> be found for new projects from people just idling around the periphery.
>
>
>   
>> It would be cool if there was a way to ensure that all <foo> items would be 
>> supported. However, even then, high performance video would lag. It is often 
>> proprietary, and many vendors simply won't publish their specs and need a 
>> reverse engineer to get any support at all. You can't force them to do it, 
>> and in the case of an open source OS, they may not want the world+dog to see 
>> their code for any number of reasons. nVidia is a rare exception, and even 
>> they are not going to put FreeBSD support at the top of their list. 
>>     
>
> What does that have to do with whether or not it's a good idea to solicit
> graphics and driver developers who aren't already doing something to work
> on it, if they're so inclined?
>
>
>   
>> Long story short, there's room for all types. Enjoy the diversity. Fix what 
>> you can. Avoid the problems you can. Use the appropriate tools for their best 
>> purposes.
>>     
>
> Judging by the responses of some people on this list, there *isn't* room
> for all types.  That's my problem with this whole mess.
>
>   
why don't we all just say it. freebsd sucks because it isn't cp/m.